MARTIN: "PASSION OF FANS IS AMAZING"

18 March 2013

Martin Allen thankful to fans who made trip to Morecambe

Martin Allen paid tribute to the 233 Gillingham fans who made the long trip to Morecambe to watch the 1-1 draw at the Globe Arena.

Bradley Dack’s 52nd minute goal cancelled out Jack Redshaw’s opener just before the half time break, and the midfielder was unlucky not to grab the winner when his glancing header went inches wide of the post.

Martin went straight over to the supporters at the full time whistle to applaud their efforts and thanked them for making the journey.

He said: “They sang their hearts out from start to finish.

“As a manager if you can’t walk 20 yards out to show your appreciation for everybody who has made the trip then you are the wrong man to be the manager of the club.

“The passion of the fans and the support they have given me is amazing isn’t it?

“It’s just a shame the season has to end isn’t it?

“We have some solid characters, leadership through the spine of the team and it’s a difficult place to come; we made a lot of changes from the last match. Our lot just keep going and plugging away.

“It’s all well and good having the ball but it’s still hard to find chances against us, we are such a great unit of men.”

The Gills fell behind against the run of play having had a great chance to go ahead – on loan midfielder Michael Richardson had a glorious chance to open his account for the club but was unfortunate to miss the target from close range.

His loan deal expired after the game but the Manager is hoping to keep him for a little while longer.

He added: “I will have a chat with him soon. I want to keep him, I think he’s a great lad, he works so hard and I thought he played well today. If we were winning I would have kept him on but I needed to chase a goal.

“I hope he wants to stay with us, I think it will be good for him and I always knew he was going to play here today with four games in 10 days that we had.

“I always knew I was going to be rotating those midfield players because of the amount of running they have to do and the system we play.

“His mum and dad are here so I will chat to them because they are nice people and then work out what we are going to do.”

As for the game itself Martin said it was a good point considering Morecambe’s recent home form and wasn’t concerned with other results due to the fact the Gills had added to their points tally.

He added: “All I concentrate on is to keep picking up points and I know if we do that in every game we play then they can’t catch us.

“It’s important at the sharp end and we can’t afford to be slack. We need to make sure people are challenging at every opportunity and that the shape of our team is right.